‘Pie Room’ cookbook: Recipes from haggis scotch egg to cauliflower pasties

Haggis scotch egg

A well-made scotch egg with a warm, jammy yolk, juicy forcemeat and crispy breadcrumb coating is a thing of beauty. A near perfect snack, the scotch egg can be a vehicle for so many variations on the original recipe. This is one of my favourites. The flavours are simple and clean, relying purely on quality ingredients being handled with a little care. If the idea of eating haggis has previously felt intimidating, this is a great way to try it and then, inevitably, fall deeply in love with it.

Makes 4

160g good-quality pork sausagemeat

160g haggis

2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

½ tsp sea salt

white pepper

5 medium organic eggs, at room temperature

50g plain flour

50ml semi-skimmed milk

150g panko breadcrumbs or plain white breadcrumbs

1l vegetable oil

Place the sausagemeat in a large bowl and crumble in the haggis. Add the rosemary, sea salt and grind in a little white pepper, then mix well. Divide the mixture into four equal balls, each weighing 80g, and chill in the refrigerator.  

Meanwhile, fill a small saucepan with enough water to cover four of the eggs (but don’t actually add the eggs) and bring to the boil. Fill a large bowl with iced water and keep it close by. Carefully lower 4 eggs into the boiling water with a spoon, making sure you don’t crack them on the base of the pan, and boil for 6 minutes. Remove the eggs from the pan using a slotted spoon and transfer to the bowl of iced water. Leave the eggs to cool for 10 minutes and then once cool enough to handle, peel the shells from the eggs and set aside to dry on paper towels.

Take three bowls. Put the flour into the first bowl, crack the remaining egg into the second bowl and beat it with the milk, then place the breadcrumbs into the final bowl, lightly crushing some of the crumbs in your hands for texture.  

Flatten out the sausagemeat balls and wrap them in an even layer around the boiled eggs, making sure each egg is snugly wrapped in the meat. Roll each meat-wrapped egg in the flour and then dust off any excess. Next, dip the floured eggs in the beaten egg. Finally, coat each egg in the breadcrumbs, making sure they are well covered. Leave the eggs resting on the breadcrumbs in the bowl until ready to cook.

 Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C. Fill a heavy-based pan with the vegetable oil and heat to 180C (use a digital probe thermometer to check the temperature). When the oil has reached 180C, lower the eggs into the oil and fry them for 1 minute 30 seconds or until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs from the hot oil and place on paper towels to drain. Transfer the fried scotch eggs to a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove the scotch eggs from the oven and leave to rest for 2 minutes before swiftly cutting them in half with a serrated knife for a clean cut through and serving while still warm.

Prawn thermidor vol-au-vents

Thermidor is one of my all-time favourite dishes, but it is usually served as tender lobster meat in an inedible shell. I’ve always believed everything on a plate should be edible, hence the pastry tart case, which actually adds a lightness to the dish. At the Holborn Dining Room, we serve a version of this Thermidor tart with lobster, which you can substitute for the prawns if you are feeling flash.

Makes 5

200g raw tiger prawns, peeled

20g butter

1 quantity of hollandaise Sauce (see below)

25g tarragon leaves, picked and chopped, plus extra to garnish

100g Gruyere cheese, finely grated

1 tsp English mustard

For the vol-au-vents

450g classic puff pastry (or shop-bought)

plain flour, for dusting

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water, for brushing

First, make the vol-au-vent cases. Preheat the oven to 190C fan/210C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and then roll the pastry into a large square 5mm thick. Place onto the lined tray and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.  

Remove the tray from the refrigerator and cut ten discs from the pastry dough using an 8cm round cutter. Rearrange five of the discs on the lined tray so they are spaced a little apart and brush lightly with the egg wash. For the remaining discs, using a smaller 6cm round cutter, remove the centres and discard. Working quickly while the pastry is still cold, carefully lift these rings up and lay over the whole discs on the tray, fitting them neatly on top as collars. Brush the collars with the egg wash and, using a fork, prick the centres of the vol-au-vents (but not the collars). Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden. Transfer the vol-au-vent cases to a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, using a small sharp knife, carefully remove any pastry from the centre of each vol-au-vent case to expose a deep hole. Be gentle or you may break a hole through the bottom or the sides. Store in an airtight container while you make the filling.

Preheat the oven to 190C fan/210C.

Slice each prawn in half horizontally. Heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. When the butter starts to bubble, add the prawns to the pan and toss in the butter for 1 minute until just pink. Remove the prawns from the pan, drain and transfer to paper towels to remove any excess moisture.  

Pour the hollandaise sauce into a mixing bowl. Add the tarragon leaves, gruyere and mustard to the bowl and fold through the sauce. Lastly, add the just-cooked prawns.

Place the baked vol-au-vent cases on a baking tray. Spoon the thermidor mixture into the vol-au-vent cases, dividing the prawns equally. Fill the cases so that the thermidor mixture is just above the rim of the pastry. If any bubbles over the top during baking, it only makes the dish look even tastier at the table.

Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Check the temperature of the Thermidor mixture in the middle with a digital probe thermometer, it should read 65C or above. If not, pop the tray back in the oven for a further few minutes before serving, topped with a few extra tarragon leaves.

Hollandaise sauce

Serves 6

1 shallot, peeled and finely sliced

20ml white wine

20ml white wine vinegar

5 black peppercorns

a large pinch of table salt

300g butter

3 egg yolks

a pinch of cayenne pepper

½ lemon

Put the shallot, wine, vinegar, peppercorns and salt into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat and leave to reduce by half. Remove the pan from the heat and strain the wine and vinegar reduction through a sieve into a metal bowl.

Melt the butter in a microwave until it turns liquid. Pour the golden liquid butter into a small jug, leaving the white fats in the bottom of the microwave container. These can be discarded. Alternatively, heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat, allowing the white fats to separate and sink to the bottom, then pour off the golden liquid butter for using later.

Add the egg yolks to the metal bowl with the slightly cooled wine and vinegar reduction. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is airy and slightly thickened.  

Place the metal bowl over a small pan of simmering water and whisk continuously until the sauce is well thickened. You should be able to see drag marks from the whisk in the sauce. The moment that the egg turns from raw to lightly cooked (but not scrambled) is quite a small window of time, so it is important to pay attention as you don’t want scrambled eggs.

Remove the metal bowl from the heat and sit it on a damp dish towel for support. Gradually pour in the liquid butter, whisking continuously to incorporate it into the sauce. Add the cayenne pepper and then a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.

Do not store this in the refrigerator as it will split when it becomes too cold.

Curried cauliflower and potato pasties

These pasties are as wholesome eaten cold as they are hot and a great picnic item to take on a day out. They rarely make it as far as my picnic basket, though, as I’m forever eating them piping hot out of the oven – they’re the main reason why I constantly have a burnt mouth. Add just a spoonful of mango chutney from a jar on the side for complete perfection.

Serves 4

800g hot water crust pastry

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water, for brushing

mango chutney, to serve

sea salt

For the filling

2 tbsps vegetable oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 Spanish onion, peeled and thinly sliced

500g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

30g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

2 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 whole cauliflower, cut into florets

½ lime

To make the filling, warm 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and let sizzle for 30 seconds. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook for 10–15 minutes until just starting to colour. Add the potatoes, garlic, ginger, chillies and spices, and cook for a further 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes and 100ml of water. Simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the potatoes are just cooked and the sauce has thickened.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C fan/240C. 

Rub the cauliflower florets all over with the remaining oil and scatter across a roasting tray. Place the tray in the preheated oven and roast the cauliflower for 15 minutes until softened and coloured.  

Lower the oven temperature to 200C fan/220C.

Add the cauliflower to the potato mixture, squeeze in the juice of half a lime, season to taste and then set aside to cool.  

Divide the pastry dough into four equal balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball to a 1cm thick circle. Divide the filling mixture equally between the pastry discs, spooning it onto one half of each disc. Fold over the other half of each pastry disc to cover the filling and crimp the edges together.

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Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the pasties on the lined tray, brush the surface of the pastry all over with the egg wash and add a sprinkle of sea salt. 

Place the tray in the hot oven and bake the pasties for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Serve either while still warm or at room temperature with a spoonful of mango chutney.

Extract from ‘The Pie Room’ by Calum Franklin (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26). Photography © John Carey